Anaka @avalon169 - Tumblr Blog

Your Name/Hetalia/Sensoron

I’ve seen Your Name before, which was a few years ago. Before rewatching it, I remember I felt very confused after seeing it for the first time and googling what I watched. I didn’t understand the hype and why everyone enjoyed it, while I was left wondering what happened; however, I do recall appreciating the animation and soundtrack. I think that it was good seeing it again from an older viewpoint, and after watching the lecture.

Your name reminds me of the Disney movie The Swap. In this movie, Ellie, the female lead, had to provide a masculine performance and play hockey while in Jack's body. While in Ellie's body, Jack had to provide a feminine performance and do gymnastics. I thought this fit with the lecture on how men and women are expected to act, as seen in the scene where Mitsuha, in Taki's body, is expected to use the proper pronoun with his friends. I also noticed that the grandma mentioned that her son abandoned being a Shinto priest to go into politics. This reminded me of the first module that discussed different essentialisms, one of which was Closeness to Nature, inspired by the Shinto religion. I noted the scene where Mitsuha cuts her hair. Cutting hair usually means a new beginning or change. I thought her decision to cut her hair could be a symbol of changing fate, where she and her loved ones would survive the comet fragment that struck and destroyed Itomori.

I have never heard of, nor seen, Hetalia before this course. However, I found it to be a very interesting watch. I thought it was intriguing how the characters represented different countries and their personalities reflected the stereotypes of their countries. I found some parts of the anime to be comedic, and the lack of a filter for some comments caught me off guard. One comment that I noted was in the English dub episode 9, when Britain commented that America would become a diabetic fat person if he continued on a burger-only diet. I thought this drew attention to the stereotype of an overweight American due to the large portion size and affordability of fast food burgers. I also connected Italy from Hetalia to Mort from All Hail King Julian. I thought they shared an attachment to and reliance on another character, Germany for Italy, and King Julian for Mort. Furthermore, they have obsessions, as Italy is obsessed with pasta and food, while Mort is obsessed with feet.

I have read other manga and Sensoron was definitely the most biased one. I’m glad for the warning about it being biased since it could easily be misinterpreted as entirely true. This piece was my least favorite content in the module; however, I understand its connection to Hetalia and the topics discussed in the lectures regarding nationalism.

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I also thought that Your Name had prominent themes of "closeness to nature" because of Mitsuha's family culture and the town being a small area in a bigger area of nature. Also I think that Taki's gradual appreciation for her village and the environment would've fit well with a discussion about nature.

I think it's funny that you compare Italy to Mort with his obsession with feet, and I found Italy's obsession with pasta entertaining!

Your Name

I knew this was quite a popular movie so I was excited to watch it. First thing that stuck out to me was the beautiful artwork. One part I found particularly funny was when they had switched bodies and people actually started liking them more because of it. The girl at Taki’s work actually started to like him back because she thought he had a more “feminine” or caring and sensitive side, and then Mitsuha’s classmates liked that she suddenly had a very outgoing and athletic personality and even the girls started crushing on her because she displayed more masculinity. This part really emphasizes things that we’ve discussed previously where the sex of someone doesn’t automatically dictate their gender performance. Even though Taki and Mitsuha suddenly woke up as the opposite sex, they struggled to act like one another and society pressured them to present as the “correct” gender.

The other aspect I also really liked about this movie was that it almost felt like Taki and Mitsuha were “soulmates” because they had a powerful link that even if they couldn’t remember each other, they felt it in their souls that they had met. This movie used a bit of the “red thread” idea from Chinese myth which is used to symbolize people who are destined to meet. At various points in the film, Taki and Mitsuha were connected by the invisible red string. I also think using this to symbolize their connection is so fitting since Mitsuha is a thread maker!

Hetalia

At first I didn’t really find this one too interesting, but I found that picking fun at everyone through stereotypes was pretty entertaining. I love America. Japan may be making fun of us, but downing burgers is honestly accurate. It was kind of hard to tell when Hetalia was trying to exaggerate stereotypes and when they were just using them completely seriously. I noticed that all of the countries are kinda just airheads to some extent, and this is probably to show how ridiculous our stereotypes are.

I think the problematic elements work well because it stirs up conversations more about reality than many other anime probably would.

(My favorite scene was probably China going to war using a wok and a ladle! That was so funny.)

Overall, it’s not a show I have too much of an opinion on – I liked it, but it’s not typically something I’d choose to watch.

Sensoron Manga

Okay, reading this was pretty rough. The main message I was getting from it was that Kobayashi tries to make Japan look innocent (Japan was manipulated and taken advantage of by America during and after WWII). He doesn’t like that Japan is forcing Japanese children to believe that Japan was the evil force in WWII, he tries to convince us the Nanking Massacre actually was just made up by the US and it was actually the Chinese who raped and killed Chinese people instead of the Japanese imperial army, and also tries to convince us that the Comfort Women weren’t abducted by the Japanese military.

I feel like his genre of Gomanism would definitely appeal to people who felt like Japan had lost its national pride and want their kids to be proud of where they’re from instead of feeling guilty about it. I mostly just didn’t like this manga because his character’s attitude about everyone being idiots and just brainwashed was rude, but also because he’s not even correct about it. However, I would agree that instilling such an intense feeling of guilt or shame in young kids isn’t fair, because it’s not their fault for what happened in WWII.

This part confuses me because he just spent the last 10 pages explaining why testimonies can’t be trusted as actual evidence, but then he himself chooses to believe what his coworkers say over actual facts. Maybe it’s supposed to be used as satire.

ufliaprice

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind / Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was a super cozy watch for me. Honestly, anything environmental is pretty cozy. I really enjoyed it. One of the things I noted was that Nausicaa was not only a super strong female lead but also a princess. It’s not a super popular trope, but even when that trope is used, the princess always needs some kind of major saving along the way. However, this was not the case for Nausicaa. She was highly independent throughout the entire film and ended up saving her people all on her own in the end. Another thing that stood out to me is the prophecy. The person depicted in the prophecy was a man. However, I caught on to the fact that the person who would fulfill the prophecy would be Nausicaa early on. Only the old lady realized at the end that Nausicaa had fulfilled the prophecy. I don’t think many people realized either because they didn’t know it, or because Nausicaa is female.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 seems like a game that I would love to play. I really enjoy fantasy RPGs, and this game appealed to me on many levels. The thing that stood out to me right away is that, in the beginning, other than some creatures here and there, there was absolutely no nature. No grass, trees, shrubs, or anything other than what was being grown on the Titans’ backs. Everything was super industrial. It seems to me that this game speaks to what our future would look like. Obviously, without the fantastical aspects of the game. But, it’s more so saying that this is what our world could look like in the future. Mostly man-made things and very few aspects of the natural world. In dystopian media, you either have one of two extremes. The two extremes are that there is little to no nature, or nature has overtaken everything.

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I also thought it was interesting to see a world where there was no nature except in little areas amongst the vast nothingness. The Titans immediately reminded me of floating islands in a sea of clouds. Even though this was a representation of a post-apocalyptic world, the traveling Islands (Titans) still seemed like a very nice and peaceful place to live, so it makes sense that Elysium ended up being made up of nature living on the Titans.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind | Xenoblade Chronicles 2

I wasn’t expecting much from the summary, but I really liked Nausicaa! As I’ve said before, I don’t find Studio Ghibli to be my cup of tea most of the time, but this movie had a great message, an interesting plot, strong characters, and I think it was overall a fun watch.

The first thing I noticed was that Nausicaa is a great representation of a strong female lead. She’s empathetic toward the jungle creatures, caring toward her people, and even accepting toward people from other towns. She’s also badass but she doesn’t run blindly into situations, she is more careful and logical and knows how to solve a problem correctly.

I thought that the main character and main antagonist both being very independent females made for an interesting dynamic. Kushana had an instrumentalist perspective of nature. She wanted to destroy the forest because she thought of it as only doing harm to humans. Nausicaa knew that the forest was actually working to restore the Earth and wanted to protect it. Even though they were on very opposite ends, Kushana seemed to have a kind of respect for Nausicaa like she admired Nausicaa’s determination to fight for the jungle despite not understanding her motivation.

The quote that I really liked was when Obaba said “The anger of the Ohm reflects the anger of the Earth.” It kind of gave me Lorax-speaks-for-the-trees vibes.

To be honest, I was a bit lost watching the Xenoblade cutscenes. I couldn’t really see the connection to environmental issues until I watched the lecture video.

One thing I actually expected was the plot twist when they found out Elysium was basically a wasteland. The method of restoration that Klaus was attempting was pretty interesting. I did think it was odd that he was having to promote restorations instead of like other types of media where nature normally finds a way to grow anyway. With his method, Klaus recreates the cyclical timeline of nature with Titans and Blades, except the cycle of nature depends on humans, whereas humans don’t normally have that kind of control over nature.

ufliaprice

Neon Genesis Evangelion / The End of Evangelion

Let’s start with the series Neon Genesis Evangelion. I thought it was pretty cool, but I noticed that there was a sad undertone to the whole series. Even though the reasons for why are unknown to the viewer in the beginning, the sadness is still present. One thing that stood out to me was that Shinji was the only male who was taking part in all of the action. Everyone else was female. Even then, Shinji does not have hegemonic masculinity, even though he tries to put on a front at times to prove that he does. This means that there was never a “true” male lead throughout the anime. Another thing that I noticed was the references to birth and the role of a mother. In a way, you can compare Shinji to being a “mama’s boy”, which could be used as a derogatory word to describe men with queer masculinities.

Next is The End of Evangelion. This movie deeply disturbed me on multiple levels. I think the masturbation scene right off the bat has a lot to do with that. It kind of set the tone for the whole movie for me as being twisted. The religious aspect also played into making it disturbing. I found myself wanting to watch anything else but the movie because it just had a dark, overarching theme. One thing that really stood out to me the most was that, in opposition to the anime’s ending, Shinji never found solace. He never found the acceptance that his soul had been searching for all his life. This leads to a forever battle between hegemonic masculinity and queer masculinity, in which acceptance is never attainable. And it begs the question of whether true acceptance will ever be accomplished in the real world. Even through the recreation of the world, Shinji was never truly accepted. So, what would our world have to go through to reach what he could not?

avalon169

I like how you connected all the references to birth and childrearing to how Shinji's queer masculinity making him more of a "mama's boy." Although he didn't have his mom, it felt like he still relied on her as well as all the other women in the show. A lot of the other characters seemed to have issue with their mothers too which I found interesting. I think this relates to the other theme of how all the characters kind of just wanted to escape, or essentially, go back to their mothers. In the acid-trip sequence all the characters talk about how they are scared and alone.

I also agree with you that the movie was difficult to watch because of the dark tone and pretty messed up scenes.

Neon Genesis Evangelion | The End of Evangelion

(I'm actually crashing out over this one)

Okay so watching this was pretty much an acid trip.

Pertaining to the module, it's pretty clear that Shinji does not possess the traits for hegemonic masculinity. Shinji is scared of operating a giant robot machine and fighting monsters with it, which most boys would find awesome, and he gets scared and wants to quit every time something goes wrong with the Eva. One thing I noticed was that Shinji is basically obligated to fight to protect his country from the angels, which is a very traditionally masculine trait, but he constantly runs away from it. He doesn't seem to have that sense of responsibility to protect people.

I thought that by episode 8 Shinji had finally gained some self-confidence, but it was perhaps just him trying to adopt hegemonic masculinity and one again failing to do so.

The ending of the series seemed to have an overwhelming message of "you can only truly know yourself if you are connected with other people," which I think was a good message and goes with the idea of accepting yourself for who you are. However, the movie didn't really have the same tone to the ending. The movie conveyed a message of eternal struggle and confusion between having a queer masculinity and wanting to be accepted by a traditional society.

Also, I think even though queer masculinity doesn't actually mean the person is gay, Shinji definitely displayed interest in both males and females.

Now about the movie... I definitely have some opinions. My blood was boiling and I was livid. I had to put it on 1.5x speed because I my entire body was too revolted to watch it. I swear this movie is my 13th reason. I actually wish I had never watched it.

I know a lot of people didn’t like Sailor Moon because she was annoying and cried a lot, but in my opinion Shinji is so much worse. He’s the typical anime main character that’s like “I suck I suck everyone hates me blah blah” but he barely improves and his attitude doesn’t change. AND THEN he spent the ENTIRE movie sulking and acts all shocked when his friends drop like flies around him.

Basically every character in NGE has more hegemonic masculinity that Shinji, and I think it just gets to a point where he's just too useless and he makes it hard to enjoy the movie (besides all the other nonsense happening at the same time).

For example, Asuka is literally shoved into a robot while STILL in a coma and somehow manages to KICK ASS (wait can I say that?) right after waking up, yet Shinji is curled up like a baby while everyone around him gets shot to death.

Don’t even get me started on the hospital scene.

I honestly wish Shinji hadn’t accepted himself at the end because I certainly don’t.

There was one thing that I loved about this series though, and that was the music! The opening is iconic obviously, but the orchestral music during the fights scenes and the ending theme were also incredible.

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animatedworld22

Otaku Community

Before I begin I want to say that I have never been to an anime convention before. I will be referring to the three videos posted in the assignment, but I was fully aware of what typically happens during these conventions and the type of people who attend. My main source of information regarding anime conventions is streamers who I have seen attend these events to mess with otaku who are simply just trying to express their passion for Japanese pop culture. People like attempt to annoy or bother otaku are simply showing the audience how emotionally passionate some fans are for anime. Even in the documentary we see how intense some people are when it comes to cosplaying. For example, Dustbunny reportedly spends days crafting her own pieces that make up the costume. She devotes her life to the craft, because she is so passionate for it. As we travel through the convention we see how diverse the cosplay selection is, and that in most cases there is never a single anime that does not receive some form of representation. As it was stated by one of the cosplayers, these conventions allow for people to give back to their favorite characters and voice actors by embracing their looks and personalities. Similar to acting, people can dissociate themselves with their lives back at home, whether unsatisfactory or mondain, and live in the shoes of a character they envy. We see in the image above an otaku cosplaying as Naruto (at a convention in Tampa, FL). For some cosplayers, they can dress as characters they not only like, but relate too. Say someone lived a neglected childhood, but related to Naruto, now they can express their relationship with this character in real life. To me, I think that in some cases cosplaying can act as an outlet for therapy to troubled individuals of all ages.

Another key characteristic of anime conventions is overwhelming sense of community. As it was stated in the documentary, many otaku reframe from publicly associating with the anime fan base, because of how the rest of society views "geeks" and "nerds" who enjoy Japanese pop culture. However, it is these conventions that offer an outlet to said people, and not only that but it does it in great scale. The documentary claimed that the anime convention held in Baltimore, Maryland recently had as many as twenty thousand attendees, which is a significant increase from the four thousand attendees only years prior. For some, it is simply knowing that there is that many people like them, which gives them confidence to express their passion regardless of how societal norms view it.

The sense of community is the foundation of anime conventions and specifically its the rich diversity that makes these communities so welcoming and familiar. We see in the documentary that there are people of all races, that cosplay as people who are outside of their own race. We see people of all ages, young and old, who are equally passionate for Japanese pop culture. To me the most heart touching thing was seeing the families there. The documentary featured a mom and her two sons who appeared to be dressed up as Naruto characters. Despite the mom not having an interest in anime, she still gives her sons the opportunity to meet a community that they can relate to. As a young otaku in America, it is hard to fit in with some kids that think "weirdos" watch anime. Furthermore, we see a mother and father who dress up, not because they are otaku, but their daughters really wanted to attend a convention and obtain that sense of community.

avalon169

I like how you talk about how important cosplay is to a lot of people who are interested in anime, videogames, and otaku culture in general. Although I haven't caught on the excitement of cosplaying (yet), I think I can understand how some of them feel. This also reminds me of an anime I really like called My Dress-Up Darling. This anime is similar to Genshiken because it follows a girl and her interest in fandom culture. She loves to cosplay as characters that she has an emotional attachment to, and I can understand loving a character so much that you want to represent them through cosplay. I think this is how a lot of people who cosplay probably feel.

Convention Experience

MegaCon, April 1st 2023

I’ve only been to one big convention before and it was MegaCon 2023 in Orlando. I had never been interested in attending anything like this, but my friend invited me to go with her so I figured it would be an interesting experience. I never really liked cosplay, but my friend handmade her own Technoblade (R.I.P. King) cosplay so I wanted to try cosplaying too. I went as Kyoka Izumi from Bungo Stray Dogs, partially because I really like the character, and partially because I already have long, dark hair so I wouldn’t need a wig.

I had no idea what to expect but I had looked up the guest celebrities that would be there and my idol, John Cleese, was on the list. Many people know him from Monty Python, but I had been a fan of his British comedy show called Fawlty Towers since I was very young. Although I didn’t actually get to meet him, because my friend and her family didn’t want to wait in line, I did briefly talk to some of the other people waiting and many of them loved Fawlty Towers as well. I was surprised because it’s not as well known, but happy to find other people who enjoyed it as much as me, especially because I feel like that show is peak British comedy and everyone should watch it (however, it’s wildly offensive).

My friend was excited to meet other cosplayers and take pictures with them. At the time, I wasn’t really aware of any of the members in the Dream SMP, but I remember meeting another person cosplaying as Jsclatt. My friend participated in a few cosplaying events, though I didn’t really understand what was going on. I was more nervous about meeting and taking pictures with strangers than she was because I was never part of the community. I remember two girls coming up to me to take a group photo because they were dressed as Chuuya and Dazai, also from Bungo Stray Dogs. I could see how many people at the convention really enjoyed just bonding over common interests and getting to meet new people.

The main floor of the convention was filled with stands for anime merchandise and other miscellaneous interests. One stand that really interested me was the D&D dice table. I think this was my first encounter with fancy, handmade resin dice, so when I looked at the prices, I almost had a heart attack. Way too expensive. Despite this, I liked looking at all the cool art that people made based on their interests.

Looking at all the events on their website, there actually wasn’t too much I wanted to do so I let my friends decide where to go most of the time. One event I was interested in, however, was the K-pop meeting. I went to the room it was being held in with my friend’s mom and got to meet a few other people who liked TWICE like me. We talked about who our favorite members were and they showed me their collections of photocards. I even got given a few items by one of the girls I met. I didn’t bring any of my photocards to trade, but I still enjoyed talking to them about my favorite K-pop group. 2023 was back when I had a major K-pop phase, so at the time, I pretty much made it my whole personality. I also didn’t have any friends who liked K-pop so I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with. Therefore, meeting other people that understood my obsession was fun.

To be honest, I don’t remember much else about MegaCon because I found it to be mostly boring. I get that a lot of people are very excited about attending conventions like these, but I just don’t think I liked how huge and crowded it was. I also don’t feel like I was too excited about many of the events, which were directed toward people with more interest in video games and cosplaying than I was. I still think it was a good experience because now I know what I won’t be spending my money on, and I got a college assignment out of it. I also know that the way I participate in fandom is different from how the people attending these conventions participate.

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ufliaprice

Sailor Moon / Aggretsuko / Wandering Son

Sailor Moon is definitely one of the staple anime. I know it’s super popular, but I didn’t really like it all that much. If I’m being completely transparent, the main character deeply annoyed me. But aside from that, this is what I picked up while watching it. Luna really just threw her to the wolves when it came to being a hero. She had no training whatsoever but was told to go defeat monsters. Another thing is that she had contradictions, such as being the victim while also being the hero. She blames everyone else for everything, but she is also forced to be a hero and save the day. I also noticed that a man coming to the rescue was a common theme.

Now, for Aggretsuko. I loved this watch. It was so cute and so relatable at the same time. It was also funny to watch. One thing that I noticed was that she was expected to be ladylike; however, her coping mechanism is viewed as more masculine in nature. This is why she hides her love for death metal away from everyone. As a metal fan myself, I don’t see why certain music genres are even seen as this way or that. Music is music, and anybody can enjoy and partake in it. To me, music is more about soul than it is about the body or appearances.

And finally, Wandering Son. There are two things that I noted, but I wanted to point out the title of the anime. It kind of goes against what the whole anime is about, in my opinion. It’s almost as if it were Nitori’s parents describing her as they still view her as their son, who is, in some way, lost. Aside from that, I noted that Sarashina is hypocritical in the way that she tells Nitori not to dress as a girl even though she dressed in the boy uniform. I also noted that there seemed to be more acceptance from the guys in the anime, which is the opposite of what I have come to see in day-to-day life. Overall, I enjoyed the anime in this module and learned a lot from it.

avalon169

I actually like that you pointed out how Sailor Moon, despite being about 'girl power,' still has a guy that comes to her rescue. Tuxedo Mask at some point in every fight interferes with the bad guy so that Sailor Moon can essentially lock in and realize she needs to use her Moon Tiara Action skill. I can see how you find her to be annoying because, and I do too a little because of how much she cries, but I also agree that Luna is not much help and most likely stresses Usagi out more. Despite this, I think that Tuxedo Mask is just another element of how Sailor Moon is a very feminine hero. She's just a girl who's basically in love with a mysterious and handsome man, but in the end, she gets the job done.

Sailor Moon

I’ve been wanting to watch Sailor Moon so I’m glad it was one that we got to watch for this class. I went in not really knowing what to expect but I can definitely see how this is directed towards girls, and I also believe the original manga was written by a woman. I like that this show demonstrates feminist ideas that girls can be heroes too, not just boys, while at the same time not changing Usagi’s girly personality. Usagi is very traditionally ‘feminine’ as she wears cute clothes, she has really long hair that she wears in pigtails, and she cries a lot. However, she uses these feminine items like her princess crown, wand, and makeup to fight bad guys. She also presents herself as the “Pretty Guardian” who fights for love. This isn’t the typical “superhero” that people are used to, but Sailor Moon channels her femininity into her hero form which gives her strength and the ability to protect vulnerable populations like young girls.

Aggretsuko

I watched this show when it first came out on Netflix, and I remember liking it. I think Retsuko is basically a representation of a lot of women in a corporate job field and how they feel like they’re stuck in that situation, yet have to just continue playing their part as a female who behaves femininely and tries not to rock the boat. Mr. Ton was very annoying in the beginning because of his behavior towards women and especially Restuko. When women are treated badly in their jobs they probably feel like screaming insults like Retusko does through her death metal, but they can’t act out of place because it would jeopardize their job. I could understand why Retsuko’s plan was to become cuter, get married, and never have to go back to her office job again. Even though this is the more expected path for women, which enforces gender performance, unfortunately it is the only way to escape that corporate world for women like Retsuko.

Wandering Son

I didn’t really like this anime as much because I found the story just more boring, but the biggest point I picked up on was how girls who dress more masculine are seen as cool and people are more supportive of it. However, when Nitori wants to dress as a girl but people discourage it because they are worried she’ll get picked on. Even her friend Takatsuki, who supports her transgender vision doesn’t want Nitori to go to school in a girl’s uniform.

I figured this is because it’s Harder to society to accept more feminine guys than it is to accept masculine girls. Girls have been adopting more masculine traits over a long period of time, it’s been a long and gradual process, and it’s been at more of the forefront of feminist movements.

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Genshiken

At the beginning of Genshiken, I found that the first few episodes were not engaging for me. However, as the story progressed, I found that those episodes were necessary for context. I thought that this anime successfully depicted fans and participation in semiotic, enunciative, and textual productivity, as mentioned in the lectures. In season 2, I noted a discussion between one of the Japanese girls and Angela. She explains that the Japanese place a high value on nonverbal communication and the expression of unsaid feelings. I thought this connected back to Spirited Away and A Silent Voice, which utilize full animation to express emotions through action rather than speech. Another part I noticed was in season 2, episode 11. In this episode, Sasahara mentions to Ogiue that he feels worthless because he failed to secure a job. I thought this related to the work culture in Japan discussed in Module 3, including Eden of the East. What stood out to me overall was Sasahara finding a place to belong in the Genshiken club. I thought this was similar to the discrimination discussion in Module 6, especially with Wolf Children and A Silent Voice, since they include small communities where individuals have a sense of belonging. However, Sasahara's finding Genshiken as a safe space for him mainly drew my attention because I could relate to how my high school drama club became a place to belong. As a 9th grader, I was shy and was not very active in any clubs. I was interested in joining the drama club as a part of tech. One day, I ended up on stage due to a misunderstanding. I was too shy to talk to the stage manager and ended up a part of the ensemble for their production of Mamma Mia. However, I discovered that I enjoyed participating in musical theatre; I ended up being a part of the cast for every production and served as the club's president for two years. The drama club gave me a sense of belonging as I was welcomed by everyone and felt like I was in a safe space where I could sing and dance with my friends. It helped me grow individually, and I made friends with people in my grade and upperclassmen whom I still stay in contact with. I also made countless unforgettable memories in the club, which is why the concept of Sasahara finding a community mainly stood out to me.

avalon169

I like that you connected how Angela views Japanese people as not having to rely on verbal communication as much to movies like Spirited Away and A Silent Voice. I thought it was a bit weird how she kept saying that Japanese people are so sensible but I see that she thinks they just rely on other emotional indicators to understand people rather than talking. I also think this could possible connect to the idea of essentialism where foreigners view the Japanese language as "vague."

Genshiken

I didn’t really know what to expect from this anime, but I’d imagine it’s the type of show that non-anime fans would imagine people who like anime watch.

The first thing I found interesting and actually quite realistic was that the characters didn’t thing Kohsaka was a ‘real’ otaku because of his looks, personality, and because he has a girlfriend. Again, people who aren’t part of this anime culture stereotype otakus as people who look socially awkward and unattractive.

I thought the part where Ogiue was basically creating a fanfic in her head of Sasahara and Madarame was quite funny. However, she was projecting heterosexual ideas on to them where Sasahara was strictly a top and Madarame was strictly a bottom. She practices textual productivity by she writing and drawing her own fanfic manga based on the Kujibiki Unbalance.

In season 2, the club members realize that their shadow cultural capital won’t actually help them get anywhere in the real world, so they need to start job hunting for actual monetary capital, but they struggle because they don’t possess any official cultural capital. They are also portrayed as not really wanting actual jobs because they prefer to be NEETs. However, Ogiue figures out she can turn her shadow cultural capital into monetary capital by selling her fanfics at a comic convention.

This anime lowkey hit home (for my covid era self) as I was a major otaku and definitely consumed a lot of fandom materials like fanfiction, fanart, and anime merchandise. I actually hopped on the shipping-male-characters-together train because of the rising prevalence of anime among my generation during covid. At this same time, many of my friends and other people in middle to early high school were figuring out and questioning their own sexuality. Despite this, I found that even though I was surrounded by this theme of exploring sexuality through the people I interacted with and the media I consumed, I never needed to question my own sexuality, and I would say that these things also didn’t influence me in terms of my own sexuality. I think I can compare this to the critical distance concept used by otakus.

#Spotify

matchablossomblog

Naruto/Wolf Children/A Silent Voice

A Silent Voice is one of my favorite anime and manga. One aspect that I liked about the anime was the expression of emotion despite the lack of words. This is similar to how Studio Ghibli films focus more on action and facial expression to convey emotion rather than verbal exchange.

I also noticed a similarity between A Silent Voice and Wolf Children. In both anime series, another character's ear is injured by a main character. I viewed this development as a depiction of harm to the auditory sense, which can be seen as a valuable asset. In response to these incidents, the mother of the main character takes accountability for her child's actions. I find this admirable because it depicts these women as strong, honorable, and respectable individuals.

I found a similarity between A Silent Voice and my favorite musical, Les Misérables. Ishida and Jean Valjean are initially seen in a negative light as Ishida was a bully and Valjean was a criminal. However, they eventually seek redemption to make up for their past actions. Both male protagonists use their abilities to assist the people around them and those who struggle. For example, as discussed in the lecture, Ishida gathers and welcomes those who are discriminated against; he also saves Nishimiya when she jumps off a balcony. Similarly, Valjean cares for Cosette after promising Fantine her protection. They use their second chance to make a difference in the lives of others. I also found another similarity between Naruto and Les Misérables. As discussed in the lecture, Naruto decided not to kill Pain. This is similar to Valjean as he decides not to kill Inspector Javert, despite being hunted by him for years. They both decided to end the cycle of violence.

A part I appreciated in Wolf Children was when Hana cleaned the dirty and seemingly hopeless run-down house. She eventually found beauty in their new home as she cleaned and made repairs. I thought this contributed to her character as it continued her bright outlook on life despite challenges. I also thought this added to the concept of looking beyond the superficial appearance, similar to how Hana felt regarding her deceased partner.

I have seen Naruto and A Silent Voice before, but I think the lectures gave me a new perspective on both anime, and helped me make new connections like the similarities I found in Les Mis.

avalon169

I didn't actually think about the similarity of characters getting their ears hurt in both Wolf Children and A Silent Voice until you mentioned this. I think it's more symbolic in A Silent Voice because Shoko isn't able to hear, so her ears aren't one of her most valuable assets, however they can still get hurt. Shoko's classmates don't really view her as a person with feelings because she constantly tries to be kind to everyone, but she is definitely hurt by the bullying even if she can't hear.

Naruto

I’ve actually never been interested in Naruto, but I’ve watched a good chunk of My Hero Academia and I can see the similarities between them, showing a common theme of gaman and ganbaru. Although this is a common theme in anime, I have to say that I dislike the message that the only way for an outcast to be accepted is for him to be forced to struggle to prove his worth to everyone else.

Wolf Children

In this, the characters also feel they have to change who they are in order to be more accepted into society. Hana takes them to a far village to literally hide them from society so that they can decide who they want to be, but even in this remote area, Yuki and Ame have to hide part of their whole selves and they end up having to choose between two halves of who they are.

Yuki tries to fit in with people while Ame is more interested in his wolf side. Ame accepts his wolf half and because of that, forces his mother to accept that he belongs in the wild. Although Yuki feels she belongs with humans, she also finds Sohei who accepts all of her, her wolf half included.

A Silent Voice

I first watched A Silent Voice during covid when I went through my “weeb phase,” and it has to be one of the most tragic things I’ve ever watched. Despite having a good ending and a good message, I was not looking forward to bawling my eyes out for 2 hours again.

Watching this movie again, something that enraged me a lot was how the teachers and school faculty do next to nothing to stop kids from bullying each other. Even though it was obvious how cruel they were being to Shoko and later Shoya, the teachers acted like it was just the kids being silly and trying to disturb class.

I love that in this movie, it doesn’t end with the victims of bullying and discrimination having to change themselves to be accepted. Shoko literally can’t change her condition, so Shoya instead changes to be more accepting of her.

Ueno was more outwardly mean to Shoko, so it makes sense that she is seen as an awful character, and she never really ends up being accepting of Shoko because like she said, she hates her. However, I think that Kawai is as bad as Ueno. She constantly plays the victim even though she was part of the group that bullied Shoko. She never admits that anything she did was wrong, but she just expects everyone will be her friend anyway. Ueno was honest with her feelings, Kawai was superficial.

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ufliaprice

Shin Sekai Yori

Out of all the anime that we have watched so far, this has got to be one of the weirdest. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty hard to keep up with all the time skips that were going on throughout the episodes that we watched. It took a lot of concentration to try to keep up with what was going on. However, there were some key details that I noted throughout the whole experience. One of them was about the lessons that they were taught while they were in school. Their lessons were based on past students and the things that they did that were deemed wrong and dangerous. They used them as examples of what will happen to them if they do not follow the “correct” path. I now know that this is because people feared what the children could become if given the chance. I also noted, while watching, that they were closely monitoring the children and conducting educational tests to ensure that they didn’t exhibit violent tendencies; if they did, they would be eliminated. Another big realization that I had while watching the scene of them asking that creature a lot of questions about the past is that the Elders want the knowledge of what is really happening to be kept a secret. For example, the false minoshiro, who was a well of information, was eradicated because it was said to be a demon spirit that deludes the mind and the spirit. You can almost compare it to brainwashing, in my opinion. The last thing that I noted down was that the reason for them eliminating children was because they ran the risk of turning into Fiends or Karma Demons. And this fear that caused unease and paranoia all stemmed from two distinct incidents, much like the Shonen A case and the Columbine shooting in the real world. It is interesting how this anime and the real world are parallel in that aspect.

avalon169

I also took note of the lessons they were taught in school and I agree that they were to teach the kids about the dangers of Fiends and Karma Demons. I also noted while watching that both of the stories about these "monsters" included a sacrifice by the individual to protect the rest of society. Even though the kids might not be fully aware of how kids are killed if they are deemed a potential threat, stories like this engrain them with discipline and almost justify the actions of killing one child to spare potentially hundreds of others.

Shin Sekai Yori

Watching this anime was nothing less than a rollercoaster for me. From the opening scene of the first episode, I could understand the connection to the reading about Shounen A. I thought it was interesting that in their society, people were so scared of kids that they had extreme measures of control over them. Every day a song would play throughout the whole town signaling for when the kids needed to go home. But it was never shown where this song was being projected from, which gave me a verry eerie feeling from the beginning. From the first 2 episodes it’s clear that kids are essentially erased from existence and easily fade from memory if show potential to become a fiend or karma demon. The government in this anime tries to find commonalities among the kids who become violent to fit them into a known path and remove them from society.

I thought it was interesting that the parents in this anime essentially have no control over the fate of their children. Saki’s parents could only sit back and hope that Saki would progress fast enough for her to live. This really emphasizes the idea in our world that kids like Shounen A are not understood by anyone. Even their parents don’t know how or why they commit violent crimes.

To be honest, the actual story had me confused about something every 5 minutes, and I think the time skips didn’t help with that either. I was very confused by how the queerats fit into the society-surveilling-children theme of the beginning of the show. However, I feel like the storyline of the queerats added their own bit of eeriness to the anime as well. I think the realization at the end of the show that humans had been suppressing other humans, treating them like slaves, and mercilessly killing them had a strong impact. The only thing that has been bothering me about this show is that it feels like I was watching two different animes. The beginning had the theme of the “wild child” where adults feared children, but by the end it was more about dehumanizing a group of people in order for one social group to stay in power.

Overall, I enjoyed this anime and thought it had a unique story even though I struggled to figure out what was happening in the story quite often.

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ufliaprice

Psycho-Pass

I actually really enjoyed the concept of this anime. I would have liked to have fully watched it through, but alas, we must carry on. There were multiple things that I noted while watching this series. One of the things is that the psycho-pass system seems like the perfect solution on the outside; however, once you dive deeper, it is actually pretty dystopian in some ways. One thing that makes it dystopian to me is the fact that they eliminate victims due to their psycho-pass being cloudy because of the amount of trauma they experienced. It is not the victim’s fault that what happened to them happened. To add to that, the woman that we saw in the beginning was able to be talked down from the elimination point and into the paralyzer point. That just goes to show that it doesn’t always have to come to an elimination point, depending on the circumstances. However, most of the time, the enforcers will eliminate if given the chance. Another thing that I noted is that because of surveillance, a slight change in someone’s state of mind can completely ruin their entire life. And this, in turn, will cause the person to spiral into psychosis, making their threat level and chances of elimination skyrocket. The last thing I noticed was that all of the normal citizens had become completely helpless. They no longer have the need or the know-how to protect themselves. This is simply because they no longer felt threatened when out and about and felt as though the system would protect them fully. Even though some parts of the violent scenes were unnecessarily detailed, I really did enjoy watching “Psycho-Pass.” Overall, I would say this is one of the more attention-grabbing anime series we’ve watched so far, in my opinion.

avalon169

I also really enjoyed watching this anime! I like how you bring up that even a slight change in a person's mental state can be detrimental to the rest of their lives. Even in a system that is so rigid and technologically advanced, it provided a lot of injustice, making it more of a dystopia than a utopia that everyone in the anime thought it was. To judge a person wholly on their mental state and deciding whether they live or die just doesn't make sense when there are so many other factors that contribute to who a person is. Heavy surveillance can make people uneasy and contribute to an unstable mentality, making the Sybil system inherently flawed.

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